1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-contact ID card and the like and a method of manufacturing thereof.
2. Detailed Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, a number of antenna circuit board formats on which IC chips are mounted—in other words, non-contact ID cards and non-contact tags, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “non-contact ID cards and the like”) have been known.
Examples of the known non-contact ID cards and the like comprise an antenna circuit board where an antenna is formed on a substrate and an interposer board where an enlarged metal electrode is formed and connected to the electrode of the IC chip mounted on a substrate, and are configured such that the metal electrode of the antenna and the enlarged metal electrode are joined with a conductive adhesive material and the two boards (i.e., the antenna circuit board and the interposer board) are laminated and joined (i.e., international publication pamphlet No. 01/62517 (FIG. 1, FIG. 10).)
However, the conductive adhesive material used for well-known art is either paste adhesive or film-type adhesive with adhesion or joining properties where the conductive particles are dispersed within a resin. Accordingly, upon the laminating and joining of the two boards, conductive adhesive material is applied or stuck to one of the electrodes, and following this, laminating and joining is carried out while aligning the position thereof with that of the other electrode; subsequently, the two electrodes are indirectly connected through the pressurizing and heating of heat sealing (i.e., the conductive adhesive material is interposed between the two metal electrodes while both boards are joined to be integrated; furthermore, the same applies hereinafter).
However, when a conductive adhesive material of the paste type described above is used, a problem has existed in that, after performing a prescribed drying or semi-curing treatment on the paste-type conductive adhesive material coated onto the electrode, it was necessary to laminate both boards aligning the position thereof with that of the other electrode.
Alternatively, when a conductive adhesive material of the film type described above is used, since laminating is carried out on a protecting film already in a dried condition or a semi-cured condition, even though both boards can be laminated after application of the film-type conductive adhesive material on an electrode in such a manner that the position thereof is immediately aligned with that of the other electrode, there has been a problem that the protecting film has to be peeled off from the conductive adhesive material applied to the electrode immediately after the application.
Accordingly, in the former method, an applying process and drying or semi-curing process of the conductive adhesive material have been required, and in the latter method, a pasting process and a peeling process of the conductive adhesive material has been required. Therefore these processes caused an increase in equipment costs and a drop in productivity preventing the manufacturing cost of non-contact ID cards and the like from being reduced.
In another example that the above-described conductive adhesive material is not used, furthermore, it is normal practice that, by joining together of the substrate of the antenna board and the substrate of the interposer board, both substrates are laminated in such a manner that the antenna's metal electrode and enlarged metal electrode are made to make close mutual contact. In this case, however, since the two electrodes are simply in a state of contact and are not in a jointed body, comparing with the bonding of the above-mentioned “indirectly connected” state that a joined body is achieved using conductive adhesive material, electrical properties are not constant and even vary widely; therefore, it has not been in a practical use.
Furthermore, the use of resin electrodes in place of the above-described antenna's metal electrode or enlarged metal electrode is already known in the prior art (above mentioned international publication pamphlet No. 01/62517, page 10, line 25 through page 11, line 4 and page 11, lines 19 through 21). The resin electrode is formed by coating or applying a conductive resin paste comprising conductive particles dispersed within a liquid thermosetting resin onto a substrate, and although in cases where this type of resin paste electrode (i.e., an electrode made of a resin paste before cured; furthermore, the same applies hereinafter) is formed, direct joining of both electrodes by pressurizing and heating (i.e., joining wherein both electrodes are joined to be integrated without interposing a resin adhesive material there between; furthermore, the same applies hereinafter) is possible, a relatively long period of time is required for curing, leading to a marked drop in ease of manufacture and making use thereof in actual manufacturing undesirable.